The Wild West Job
by langstonlover
Summary: Eliot Spencer and the Team go to Wyoming in the year 1881 to see his long lost nephew JT Langston, who has been placed in the care of Rock Mullaney while Rafe and Anne are away. Rock is suspicious of the strangers from the very beginning, and it becomes apparent why when things on the ranch start to go missing. Are these five strangers the theives? Or is it someone else?


Rafe closed the last of the suitcases and placed it on the ground next to the door. "Alright, darlin'" He said, turning to Anne. "We're all packed and ready to go." Anne smiled and let Rafe pull her in for a kiss. They had been married for only a day now and already they were completely in love with one another as if they had been together for years.

"Oh Rafe, New Orleans is going to be amazing I just know it!" She said excitedly. Rafe smiled. "I'm sure it will be." He said, as he kissed her cheek and picked up the suitcases to take out to the buggy. "I got us the honeymoon suite at the best hotel in New Orleans." Anne smiled at the thought, and then quickly turned around to face Rock, who was standing by the door smoking his pipe.

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle everything while we're gone?" She asked the irishman. "Ofcourse Miss Anne." He told her. "You have nothing to worry about, your home is in good hands." Anne smiled. "Thank you, Rock." She thanked the Irishman as she walked out to the buggy to join Rafe. "And don't forget to watch after JT. The doctor says he needs to take it easy for awhile." "Don't worry miss. The lad's safe with me." Rock called from the porch.

Rafe helped Anne up into the front seat of the buggy with him and then took the reins of the two big roan stallions into his hands. "Take good care of the place, Rock." He told his friend. "We'll be back in about three weeks." Rock smiled. "You can count on me, Rafe." The Irishman replied and waved as to the two newly weds as Rafe snapped the reins and the little buggy started up the trail towards the Cheyenne train station.

Rock stood on the porch for awhile longer, smoking his pipe and looking out over the magnificent Wyoming mountains. It was beautiful here. If he ever settled down and had a family than he was for sure this is where he wanted to stay. He smiled at the thought. Up until now he'd really never thought of making roots anywhere. These mountains could really get a man thinkin' about his future.

He turned suddenly, awaken from his daze by footsteps coming out onto the porch. He turned back around when he saw it was only Joe walking out to his horse which for some reason was saddled and looked ready for a long trip. "Where are you goin?" Rock asked the old man. "Jacksonville." Joe replied, swinging onto his horse. "I'm gonna head out there with a wagon train to make a deal for that oil." Rock shook his head. "Well don't go and get yerself scalped." He told Joe. "You'll leave us short handed."

Joe grumbled something to himself as he rode off down the trail, where Rafe and Anne had gone just moments before. Rock laughed and turned around to go inside. Anne had left a note for him on the dining room table, so he picked it up and read it. Anne had left a list of things for him to do while she and Rafe were gone.

For starters he had to get dinner started at five thirty every night. He glanced at his pocket watch. "Might as well get started." He mumbled to himself, noticing that he was already twenty minutes behind schedule, and walked into the kitchen. They hadn't had chicken for awhile so he decided to try his hand at Anne's famous recipe for southern fried chicken.

He washed his hands in the basin sitting on the kitchen counter and picked up the carving knife to butcher the chicken with. He was about to chop the head off the chicken when he heard someone walking down the hallway. He turned to see JT, stretching his arms out and yawning, wearing only his underwear, and the white bandages around his chest.

Rock grinned. "Well look who finally decided to greet the light of day." He said, chuckling when JT offered him a crude hand gesture. "Did Rafe and Anne take off already?" The younger man asked, helping himself to a glass of cold milk that Rock had brought up from the cellar. "Yep." Rock replied chopping the head off of the chicken he was going to fry for their supper.

"And they left me incharge while they're away, which means for three weeks you have to do everything I say." JT rolled his eyes and shook his head, whenever suddenly he moaned in pain. "What's wrong?" Rock asked worridly. "My chest hurts." JT whimpered. Rock picked up the note that Anne had left him and looked it over again. "Well no wonder." He told the young cowboy.

"You were supposed to take yer pain pills an hour ago." Rock reached into the cabinet and took out the bottle of small white pills. Handing two to JT he then turned back to the chicken and continued to pluck the feathers. JT put the pills in his mouth and took a drink of milk, but then, making a face at the awful taste of the medicine, he spit them back out again.

"What the hell did ye' do that fer?" Rock asked. "Rock! Those were Anne's mentrual cramp pills! My pain pills are on the counter!" Rock looked over on the other side of the counter. Sure enough there were JT's pain pills. Rock sighed. Rafe and Anne hadn't even been gone for two hours yet and already he had given their son the wrong medicine. He was beginning to think that takin care of the ranch for three weeks wasn't such a good idea after all.

...

Rock poured the sticky brown liquid into a spoon. Anne had instructed him to give JT his antibiotic an hour before bed every night so the infection from the bullet wound didn't come back. He had screwed up the pain pills but he was for sure this time that he had gotten the right medication...Or at least he hoped he had. "JT!" Rock shouted down the hallway. "Come take your antibiotic!" "No!" JT shouted back. "I hate that nasty shit!"

Rock Growled and mumbled something under his breath about JT being a stubborn little kid. He then grabbed the bottle of medicine and the spoon, which he had emptied again, and went back to JT's room. "I'm not kiddin' JT. Come here and take your medicine right now!" He demanded, standing in the doorway of JT's room. "No!" JT stubbornly stated and continued to look through his gun catalogue.

"Alright, lad, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Rock told the younger man. "Whatever." JT said calmly, never looking up once. "I ain't scared of you." Rock's face got red with anger and he angrily walked over to the bed, and grabbed the younger cowboy by the shirt collar. "Damn it, lad, I told you to take yer medicine, and by god yer gonna take it!"

JT squirmed free of Rock's grip and took off out the door. "No!" He shouted. "I ain't takin' none of that crap!" Rock jumped up off the bed and ran after JT. "Damnit JT! Get your ass back here and take yer medicine!" He yelled after the kid. "No!" JT yelled back, stopping in fear when he finally realized that Rock had chased him into a corner. JT gulped and frantically searched for somewhere else to run.

Rock closed in on him. "There's no use lad, you've got nowhere else to run. No get over here and take your antibiotic like a good little lad." JT backed up and gulped, not wanting to have that nasty tasting medicine in his mouth. "Come on, JT, don't fight me anymore." Rock pleaded. JT, in a sudden burst of panic, dove for an open space between Rock and the wall.

Rock grabbed the kid by the arm and held him tight. JT squirmed and shouted. "Let me go dammit!" He yelled at Rock. "Stop yer squirmin' ye' wee little brat!" Rock snapped angrily, tightening his grip on JT. JT kicked at Rock until suddenly both of them fell over onto the floor. JT tried to get up and run away again but Rock grabbed him and pinned him to the ground.

"Now open your mouth!" Rock demanded. JT shook his head. "No!" He shouted. Rock growled angrily and while still holding JT to the floor he poured more of the brown sticky liquid into the silver spoon. "Open your mouth JT!" He demanded. JT squirmed and started to cry when rock held his head back and forced the spoon into his mouth. He had no choice but to swallow the disgusting brown medicine.

"There, now..." Rock said, releasing the boy. "Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" JT glared at Rock. "Don't ever do that again you bastard!" He shouted. Rock chuckled. "Awe now there's no need to throw harsh words around, lad." He told the kid. "I just don't want ya gettin' sick again is all." JT turned around and was about to go back to his room, when suddenly he heard a very familiar sound coming from outside. It was hoof beats.

"Do you hear that too or is it just me?" He asked Rock. Rock listened carfully, and it wasn't long until he too heard the horses approaching from outside. "Get me my gun." He told the kid. "Sounds like we got company." JT grabbed their pistols off of the coat rack by the door and handed Rock his. "I'm comin' too." He told him.

Rock shook his head. "No." He said firmly. "I'll not have you gettin' shot up again, you're stayin right here where you'll be safe." JT frowned and watched Rock walk out the door and onto the front porch. "Have it your way, ya drunk." JT mumbled under his breath.

...

Rock stood out on the porch with his gun, watching as the five strange horsemen rode closer and closer. He growled under his breath and cocked his colt. No one was getting past him tonight. There was no way in hell he was gonna let any renegade outlaw get to JT a second time. He waited in the dark behind a post until he heard the riders get up to the yard gate.

"I don't believe anyone's home, Eliot." He heard a man say. "Awe, they're hear." Another man replied. "There's horses in that there corral. There's surely somebody here." "Eliot, maybe we should come back in the morning. It's not right to pester people at this hour." A woman's voice spoke gently. Rock could tell that the woman was from England by her accent. "She's right Eliot. If anyone's home I don't think they'll appreciate being woken up." Another man said. "Those are some pretty horses." A young woman's voice said admiringly. "Can we take some of em'?" As soon as Rock heard the question he stepped out from behind the post and aimed his gun at the five strange riders.

"Don't ye' even think of touchin' them horses." Rock shouted. The man that the others had called Eliot put his hands up in surrender. "Relax pardner." He said calmly, backing away from the porch. "We ain't here for your horses. We're lookin' for a boy." Rock's eyes got hard and ice cold. "Just what might ye' be wantin' with this "Boy" stranger?" He asked the man.

"My names Eliot Spencer." The man told Rock. "And the boy I'm lookin' for is my nephew, my little sister's son. His name's John Thomas Langston. He goes by JT. Know where I can find him?" Rock lowered his gun. "You say he's your nephew?" Rock asked. Eliot nodded. "I've been missin' him bad, mister. I'd give the sun and the moon to see him again." He told Rock. Rock sighed and holstered his pistol. "JT!" He called to the young cowboy. The front door opened slightly, and the young cowboy stepped carfully out onto the porch.

"Do you know this man, JT?" Rock asked. JT looked at the big muscular man with the long dark hair and the bright blue eyes. He knew this man...he just couldn't remember who exactly he was. The man smiled warmly and stepped toward JT, and at that moment the young cowboy thought he saw the glint of a tear run down the man's cheek.

"Hey, little buddy." Eliot greeted JT, trying desperately to hold the tears back. JT stepped back slightly, still unsure of who this man was. Eliot's smile slowly faded and he stopped in his tracks. "Oh, now don't tell me ya don't remember me." He said to the kid. Rock watched the man with a carful eye, still unsure of his intentions. "I use to take ya fishin' when you was little." The man said to JT. "And I gave ya your first ride on horseback."

Somewhere in the back of JT's mind an old memory of his childhood flickered like the first small flame of a campfire. "Uncle...Eliot?" The boy asked, his voice quiet as if he were speaking to himself. The man smiled again and nodded. "That's right buddy." He said, holding his arms out wide for a hug. JT ran down the porch steps and jumped into his uncle's loving arms.

"My boy..." Eliot mouthed. "My little Johnny boy." JT burried his face Eliot's shoulder and shed a few tears. It had been over 10 years since he'd seen his Uncle. Back then he'd only been six years old. Eliot pulled away from his nephew slowly and looked back at his companions. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet my nephew JT. JT this is Alec Hardison, Parker, Nate Ford, and Sophie Devereaux." JT smiled. "It's nice to meet you all." He told them.

Rock growled from the porch, still very suspicious of these strangers. "Who's your friend, JT?" Eliot asked. JT looked back at Rock. "Uncle Eliot..." He said. "This is..." "Mullaney..." Rock introduced himself. "Brendon Mullaney." He shook Eliot's hand. "Rock to me mates." Eliot smiled. "It's good to meet ya, Rock." He said happily. "I'm always happy to know little Johnny's friends." He said ruffling JT's hair. Rock grinned. He didn't trust any of these strangers, but he did always like to see JT smile, so for now he was going to be nice.

"Well..." Eliot said. "We'd love to stay, JT, but we've gotta get back to the hotel in town. They might give away our rooms if we don't hurry back. "Wait a minute Uncle Eliot you don't have to leave. You and your friends can stay here on the ranch with me and Rock. We've got plenty of room, and it would give us some time to catch up." Eliot smiled. "That'd be great, JT." He said happily. "But.." He continued looking back at Rock. "You might wanna ask your friend here if it's okay with him." JT turned back to face Rock. "Rock?" He asked. "Can they stay? Please?" He pleaded, looking up at Rock with sad puppy eyes. Rock sighed. He couldn't resist those big blue eyes. "Alright lad," He agreed, reluctantly.

"I suppose your uncle and his friends can stay awhile." JT smiled and turned back to Eliot. "Did ya hear that Uncle Eliot!?" He asked. "You can stay! You can all stay!" Eliot smiled and hugged the boy. "Well ain't that just dandy!" He said laughing. "Thank ya friend!" He thanked Rock, and gave him a friendly slap to the shoulder. "I promise you'll Hardley know we're here." And with that JT led his uncle and all of his friends into the little ranch house. Rock sighed as he stood out on the porch alone. He'd just let a bunch of strangers stay the night in their home. If Rafe found out he'd tan his hide. He cursed himself under his breath and looked up at the sky. "Oh lord..." He whispered. "What on earth have I done?"

TBC


End file.
